Help! I just woke up and was stabbed by a big kid

The two fell silent at the same time.

"The place indicated by the deed is the cell where Lu Tianyun and Yu Hu are imprisoned." Jingcun said, "If they want to lead us to discover this place, it is equivalent to reminding us that the two of them are not dead, but are imprisoned there."

"Why did this person tell me all this?" Qin Zhaoyue pondered, "Since he has discovered the whereabouts of Lu Tianyun and the other two, he could just send a letter to me and get a reward. Why is he beating around the bush like this?"

Jingcun shook his head: "Let's find that sergeant as soon as possible."

Qin Zhaoyue, however, felt that things would not go so smoothly.

……

Sure enough, in the afternoon, Zhong Hao's men reported that the soldiers who had gone to Yu Ning Prefecture to search the Sarhan Mansion that year had gathered. After checking the number of people, they found that one person was missing.

According to people who were familiar with this soldier, not long after he returned from Yu'ning Prefecture, he resigned and returned home on the grounds of a family bereavement.

The steward sent back by Zhong Hao said: "...Although the person has been gone for many years, Lord Zhong asked me to bring him a portrait based on the description of someone who was familiar with him. It is 90% like him. I wonder if it can help Your Highness."

The steward presented the scroll.

"In addition, we have also asked the soldiers, but it has been so long that no one can remember who was responsible for searching which part of the mansion. I apologize to Your Highness." The steward knelt down and said, "We have already sent people to the soldier's hometown. I think it will take three or four days to get a report."

Qin Zhaoyue thought, how could Zhong Hao be so dedicated in his work? Could it be that he saw the precarious situation and wanted to surrender? Zhong Hao was also an old official, and he had always been conscientious and had not been involved in any rumors of taking sides or forming a party. He seemed to be a smart man.

He put aside his thoughts about Zhong Hao for the moment and opened the scroll.

The person on it looked ordinary, with a large black mole on the side of his cheek. The Donglin Guards who had gone to Yuning Mansion that year had been summoned to the palace, and Qin Zhaoyue handed out the scroll for them to identify.

First, the person who discovered that the gall bladder was wrong answered: "It seems to be this person."

Jingcun frowned.

Another sergeant in the team pulled the scroll, looked at it for a long time, and muttered: "This man..."

"What's wrong?" Qin Zhaoyue looked at him immediately.

"I have some impression of this mole," the soldier replied. "It was probably not long after General Yu Hu returned to the East Palace. I was guarding the gate that day when a man with a mole on his face came to the side gate of the East Palace. He said he was from the Yu family and General Yu Hu's cousin. He heard that General Yu had survived a disaster and wanted to go in and see him."

"Did you let him in?" Jingcun asked.

The soldier immediately knelt down and said, "Master Jing, please understand. This man has a badge from the Ministry of Justice and a token from the Yu family. They are absolutely genuine and cannot be fake. I have also searched his pockets and the food box he brought with him, but found nothing unusual, so we let him in."

Jingcun glared at him angrily.

Qin Zhaoyue waved his hand and said, "It's meaningless to talk about this now. Are you sure that you have checked everything he brought with him? Was Yu Hu awake at that time?"

"I know the importance of guarding the East Palace, so I waited until the shift change before letting him in, and followed him to the gate of General Yu's courtyard." The soldier said, "This man did not do anything unusual. After entering the room, he came out quickly, and his eyes were still red when he came out. General Yu was awake at the time, and everyone in the East Lin Guard was discussing this matter for a few days."

Qin Zhaoyue asked, "Is there anyone else in the room?"

"No, it seems that my lord just left." Donglinwei replied, "There is still a bitter smell of medicine."

Qin Zhaoyue's eyes darkened slightly.

"You all should withdraw. Stay on standby in the team for the next few days and don't go out." Qin Zhaoyue said.

The soldiers saluted and left, leaving only Jingcun and the manager sent by Zhong Hao in the room.

The steward asked, "Your Highness, is there anything else that our Lord Zhong can do for you?"

"Wait until the news from that soldier comes back and report to the East Palace as soon as possible." Qin Zhaoyue said, "There is nothing else to say. You go ahead."

The steward knelt down and then took his leave.

Jingcun said: "Your Highness, this..."

"We have the same doubts, right?" Qin Zhaoyue said.

Jingcun remained silent. After a while he said, "It's just that in recent years, everything has been going smoothly, and nothing unexpected has happened."

Qin Zhaoyue sat down slowly and recalled the whole process of rescuing Lu Tianyun and the other person.

Why did they go to Yu Ning Mansion?

That year, he was stabbed and seriously injured, and Lu Tianyun and Yu Hu went missing to protect him. When he woke up, he was in Xiaoluo Village, downstream of Xiaoluo River. Later, when he looked for the bodies of Lu Tianyun and Yu Hu, he naturally started from Xiaoluo Village and searched along the coast.

What drew their attention to the vicinity of Yuning Prefecture?

Qin Zhaoyue narrowed his eyes.

It was an old man, and he still remembered it. The old man said that he had seen Yu Hu's clothes on a villager, and the villager replied that he bought the clothes from the pawnshop in Yuning Prefecture. They immediately rushed to Yuning Prefecture, but met Gu Dashi and Gu Xu on the way, and happened to break a major poisonous weed case, so they didn't have time to investigate the pawnshop.

Then, they found the title deed in Sarhan's mansion, and discovered the traces of Lu Tianyun and Yu Hu. It was unreasonable for such a secret and important prisoner to have only two guards; but he and Jingcun were so overwhelmed by the joy and anger of finding their stockholders that they did not notice anything wrong.

It seemed as if there was an invisible hand pushing him and leading him to Yuning Mansion...

"There were three cells in the dungeon where they were found," Qin Zhaoyue said, "Do you remember?"

Jingcun thought for a moment and remembered the layout of the dark room.

The floor of the third cell was covered in blood and human hair, and it did not look like an empty cell.

“…There should have been another person in the third cell.” Jingcun murmured.

The dark red bloodstains in the third cell proved that the people in the cell were imprisoned and tortured almost at the same time as Yu Hu and Lu Tianyun. But when they entered the cell, they only found Lu Tianyun and Yu Hu.

A thought was growing wildly in Qin Zhaoyue's heart, and he couldn't suppress his spreading suspicion.

Is it also a signal that Lu Tianyun is still in a daze and cannot speak? Lu Tianyun experienced everything, and he knew that Yu Hu was dead, or Yu Hu was not Yu Hu, so in order to prevent him from leaking the matter, he killed Lu Tianyun?

Qin Zhaoyue's hands began to tremble.

To be on the safe side, he had checked the faces of the two men when he rescued them, and Wu Ye and the imperial physician had examined them many times and had already confirmed that they were not wearing fake makeup or masks. But...

Is there a technique in this world that can completely change a person's appearance? No makeup or human skin mask required...

Yes. Qin Zhaoyue's face tightened.

He remembered someone.

The dead "Gu Dashi".